Over 500,000 households are facing natural gas price increases of between €3.50 and €5.60 a-month from January.
This is because gas prices are likely to increase by between 5 per cent and 8 per cent in January, four months after a 20 per cent hike that kicked in at the beginning of September.
State company, Bord Gáis, is set to make a submission to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which sets consumer prices for gas and electricity, this week seeking the increase.
This will cost the average household between €3.50 and €5.60 a-month on the basis of an annual gas bill of €835 a-year.
Last July, the company sought a 38 per cent price which it wanted introduced in two steps. The energy regulator approved the first of these in September, increasing charges by 20 per cent.
At the time the CER warned that it could apply another increase on the same scale in January. When the regulator announced the new charges in July, oil and natural gas prices had increased by 70 per cent over the same time last year on world markets.
Fossil fuel prices have since fallen back, but Bord Gáis faces extra charges from producers in the North Sea because a pipe supplying the fuel to Scotland from Norway has been damaged.
Most of the gas used in this country is piped from the North Sea via Britain. While the problems with the pipe do not threaten security of supply, they do increase the price of the fuel.
The risk of problems like this will be reduced when the Corrib gas field comes on stream over the next year or two.
Gas from the field will be sold at market prices, however, it is understood that Bord Gáis will be able to cut some network charges, so supplies from the field, so consumers can expect slightly cheaper gas from that point.
